To beat the snow, Caps seek shelter in... Canada?

It's not often an escape from winter weather involves a trip up to Canada, but that's exactly the situation in which the Capitals find themselves. The team held an early 9 a.m. practice in order to catch a flight to Montreal before the D.C. area is hit with another heavy snowfall.

"It kind of reminds me of Russia, but Americans don't get used to it," said Alex Ovechkin of the snow. "For us, it's okay, for you guys, it's not okay."

Washington will take on Montreal Wednesday night, the first of a three-game road trip that will send the team to Ottawa on Thursday and St. Louis on Saturday before the players head their separate ways at the Olympic break.

And unless you've been inside a bunker lately (or you're one of the folks still without power), the big story for the Capitals is their current 14-game winning streak, a franchise record. If Washington can win its last three games before the break, it would tie the NHL record of 17 straight, set by Pittsburgh during the 1992-93 season.

"It's important, but I think if you're gonna concentrate on it, you're gonna lose," Ovechkin said. "It can be history, but we just want to win and we just want to play."

"We don't talk about it because we're all superstitious," Coach Bruce Boudreau added. "When you get this close, you'd like to see it through. ... It doesn't matter who we play, they all wanna break this thing, they all wanna be the team that says, 'Okay, we beat Washington.' So we have to be ready for every team all the time."

Green late for practice

Defenseman Mike Green came onto the ice at around 9:15 this morning, 15 minutes after practice was scheduled to begin. At the end of the skate, Boudreau had Green do some extra wind sprints as the rest of the team looked on. Green left the team's locker room pretty quickly after practice, so I didn't get a chance to speak with him. But I did talk to Boudreau and asked if there would be any other discipline for his star blueliner, considering this isn't the first time he's been late for practice this season.

"I'm sure there will be," he said, declining to get into specifics. He said Green's tardiness had to do with him not getting the text message that practice would be earlier than usual.

Varlamov back

Goalie Semyon Varlamov, who has been out with knee/groin injuries since Dec. 7, practiced fully today after stopping 26 of the 30 shots he faced in a rehab start for Hershey and will be on the road trip this week. In fact, Boudreau said all three goaltenders would be on the trip.

Boudreau said he has a rotation in mind, but would not make it public. I spoke with Michal Neuvirth and Jose Theodore, and neither knew who would be starting in net tomorrow night.

"It's all good when they're all playing great, and I assume they all will," Boudreau said when asked if having three goalies on the roster is a good thing. "Neuvy and Theo have definitely been playing great and Varly is kind of a wait-and-see scenario. ... I'm not saying whether all three are gonna play or what's gonna happen. Varly came out of the game the other day, he felt a little rusty, but he feels real good right now."

Boudreau also addressed recent comparisons of this year's Capitals to the great Edmonton Oiler teams of the 1980s. Tuesday, TSN's Ray Ferraro was the second national analyst in a week to write a story highlighting the similarities between the two teams. He compared Green to Paul Coffey, Nicklas Backstrom to Wayne Gretzky,and Ovechkin to Mark Messier. Boudreau said he was flattered, but that it's not fair to compare the two squads.

"They had so many stars," he said. "We've got stars and big time players, but they were in a league of their own."

2) I'm not downing BMo. He's a $1.5M player giving us money's worth. But, can't a better player help.

3) Forsberg. Any player can be in Playoffs if you have him in your organization by the deadline. BUT, a few years back, sick of johnny-come-latelys like Niedermayer and Selanne, the league discussed a new rule that a player had to be in the NHL by Dec 1st to play in the playoffs that year. That would rule out Forsberg, but I'm not sure the change was implimented. Anyone know?

Clearly if Forsberg has an effective Olympics, he could be THAT PLAYER who I covet.

Trade Green, his stock will never be as high as it is right now.
He had a terrible game on Sunday, so many turnovers and icing calls because of his lackadaisical play. We can get a future #1 and a player that can help us on defense.

ccCapsfan is referring to Forsberg's participation in the Olympics, not the NHL. My bet is that he won't play which will actually be a good thing because we would replace Forsberg with Franzen who was left out of Sweden's roster because of his ACL tear.

That Forsberg link upthread is dated 1/13, almost a month ago. He's playing again. You need two dominant lines to go deep - and you don't often get a chance to pick up a world-class player for the playoff stretch. Plus he's playing for free for MoDo this season, so I don't know if the contract rule still applies.

The MOMENT Green is ever hypothetically traded, is when Caps fan start crying about not having a good puck-mover/offensive weapon from the blue line.

Again, an offensive d-man like Green is more valuable than some of you are imagining. You know how important it is to make good passes out of our zone? You know how important it is to have a player from the back in which the opponents need to respect and cover more?

Kronwall is basically the Wings 2nd PP line. It fails miserably without him. Gonchar is basically the Pens PP. It fails miserably without him, though it has been failing miserably either way this year.

Gotta get another d-man. Erskine is too slow. Sloan makes awful decisions with the puck and just looks to be in over his head. With Alzner/Carlson nearly ready, I want to see us go for a rental here. Dan Hamhuis from Nashville would be perfect.

The MOMENT Green is ever hypothetically traded, is when Caps fan start crying about not having a good puck-mover/offensive weapon from the blue line.
Again, an offensive d-man like Green is more valuable than some of you are imagining. You know how important it is to make good passes out of our zone? You know how important it is to have a player from the back in which the opponents need to respect and cover more?
Kronwall is basically the Wings 2nd PP line. It fails miserably without him. Gonchar is basically the Pens PP. It fails miserably without him, though it has been failing miserably either way this year.
Posted by: richmondphil | February 9, 2010 12:55 PM |

Very well put fellow towner. I also remember idiotic Caps fan chasing Larry Murphy out of town & he's only a HOF-er.
Gonch will be one day too.

Green gets way too much criticism for some1 who's usually a team leader in minutes on the ice. Lets just say BB knows more about who should be on there than the rest of us.

1) He personally ruled out a return to the NHL. He referenced the 'contribution he wants to make, and his overall health.' Teams like Phoenix made him offers, he refused. This came out in December...

2) He is a very huge health liability. At this point in the season, B.Mo knows the system, has stayed relatively healthy, and 'can' contribute. Give him a rest to refuel rather than give Foppa cash and ice time.

3) Forsberg is/was a great hockey player. A strong skater, a sublime passer, and total threat...but he is not that person any longer. Ask the Preds and Flyers about that...

I'd rather roll out B.Mo, Gordon, or under-sized but heart-huge MP85, than gamble on a Foppa signing...

I don't know why NHL teams waste so much money on GMs when really they should just consult the comment sections of their teams biggest blogs. You guys keep rooting for trophies won by rented players, ill continue to root for the TEAM.

You need two great centers to go deep - and I'm sorry, we're not there right now. I saw that movie too many times as a kid watching the Bruins. (Conversely, look at what Forsberg-Sakic, Federov-Yzerman, Gretky-Messier achieved).

I don't know why NHL teams waste so much money on GMs when really they should just consult the comment sections of their teams biggest blogs. You guys keep rooting for trophies won by rented players, ill continue to root for the TEAM.
Posted by: GKINMD | February 9, 2010 1:44 PM

Had that not happened, had we not gone after those guys and danced with who brung ya... last year would've been the first taste of the playoffs these guys would've had... We'd be a year behind with everyone getting 1 year older.

Please do not tell me that the playoff series vs the Flyers 2 years ago did nothing for our boys.

Hey Guys, I taped Varly working with the coaches after practice today. Sorry, some of the video is turned to the side. He looked pretty good, hence no pucks in the net. I put it on youtube, so here's the link:

This is our shot at the cup! Does anybody want to look back and say that "man if we just had that one extra _____ we would've won it"? I sure don't! Spend the money now...trade off ShoaMo and a prospect and get what we need. Even if it is a little extra...the playoffs can last 2 months! what if somebody gets injured? Give the team everything it needs now.

Dance with who brung ya?
Huet, Fedorov and Cooke gave us the playoffs 2 years ago.
Had that not happened, had we not gone after those guys and danced with who brung ya... last year would've been the first taste of the playoffs these guys would've had... We'd be a year behind with everyone getting 1 year older.
Posted by: JSchon | February 9, 2010 1:58 PM

We should tweak for the post season, but lining up a 2nd line center that 1 person here compared with HOF-ers is unrealistic.

A rental player like Fedorov that cost us nothing is great. But was he a 2nd line player? On '07 team with no depth yes. Heck he was 1st line near the end because a young Backstrom wasn't a #1 yet.
On this year team, the depth is greater.
The emergence of Flash shouldn't be minimized. The dude is playing on all 3 units & gaining confidence every game.

I'm confident GMGM can get us something for nothing but I am confident to go in with Backs & Flash too.

The difference between this year and the year they brought in Feds, Cooke, and Huet is dramatic. Back then, we were in a desperate situation to even make the playoffs, and they contributed greatly. This year, we have playoff-experienced kids as well as a few vets, who have put together an historic season. Keep the roster intact, I say. We have plenty of depth, quality role players, 3 proven goalies, and a few AHLers that can be brought up as spark plugs if need be. I hate hearing for calls to pick up Forsberg. We don't need him.

Maybe the Olympics will be a good judging point for Forsberg but a few rehabbing stints with Modo is not preparations for the NHL playoffs against the likes of PIT, PHI, NJ, etc...it just isn't.

Sure will Forsberg get in the HOF, yes. But tell me when he was last an NHL impact player. He won't be a 1st liner on team SWE, and he certainly wouldn't be a 1st/2nd liner on the Caps.

Flash has been improving a great deal as the pivot for Semin/Laich. The big wild card on that line is SEMIN. Soft skating at times, stupid penalties at times, ill advised shots...get SEMIN to commit to the system, that line is lethal. Not Laich's fault at all, as he's been a solid fore checker and he is skating hard every shift.

Forsberg better than B.Mo is right now (jury still out until he lights up Vancouver)...??

We can throw washed up guys out there all day long...I still say veteran defenseman, and that's IT. This team is good enough now, just not mature enough...

Trade Green, his stock will never be as high as it is right now.
He had a terrible game on Sunday, so many turnovers and icing calls because of his lackadaisical play. We can get a future #1 and a player that can help us on defense.

Er? Did you actually look at the stats at all or are you just crapping on the carpet? Check the Event Summary out. For Mike Green - no takeaways, no giveaways, +2 with one point in 27:09 of ice time. He wasn't responsible for those turnovers; the Sloan / Poti pairing was brutal in the first.

I'm amazed by how impatient some of you are. It's like you're trying to run the Caps as a fantasy team. Tinkering with the forward lines right now is so dangerous it's not funny given the chemistry that is obvious on all four lines. Flash is doing just fine defensively; he backchecks and plays all three situations. Faceoffs could use some work, but whose on the team couldn't? The Caps are literally the deepest team in the league in goal - a solid veteran + three prospects, two of whom have proven themselves at the NHL level. A lot of teams would kill for that kind of depth in goal. As for defense, I invite you to consider this screed, written better than I could have put it.

GMGM's going to listen to offers, and you may be sure there will be offers. But he's going to think long and hard before he does anything, and I wouldn't be shocked to see him do nothing at the deadline. (I wouldn't be shocked to see him pull a blockbuster, either.) Those of you ready to throw yourselves over a bridge b/c this team isn't averaging less than 2GA/G should do so and leave the more rational among us to root for the team we love.

I am so enjoying our team during this streak, and I am still feeling the pleasure of Sunday's win over the Pens.

I think that analysts can't complain about our offense so they say our weak spot is defense. Which is true. But to say it's bad is wrong--as you and Peerless so accurately point out.

My feeling is that different lines step up at different times. Sunday was definitely the first line (when it was finally allowed to play together by the 3rd period). But I haven't forgotten how effective the third line was--Fehr had a timely goal and Chimera almost had one. Another game, another line or two takes charge. That's what I call depth.

What a horrible name for the article. On the main site the headline for the link for this article states that For the Team that Can't be Beat. Don't you know your not supposed to say stuff like that. That's as bad as talking about a perfect game in baseball during the 8th inning. NEVER talk about streaks.

@capscoach - Like everyone I have a (short) wish list and have made mention of it before so I won't again. However, it is easy to say if we only had this or that. But if you get a d-man and lose everyone says "they needed a center". People will always find reasons (excuses) for not winning the cup, so we follow the team that is put on ice and root like hell to help them bring it home.

Greenie drove his Caddy Escalade on Friday and probably Sunday too. I should know, he almost hit me and boyfriend on Friday night pulling out of the Phone Booth underground garage. He looked squarely at us and was wearing the same nice suit jacket he had on TV in the pre-game show.

I think Semin followed in a Range Rover, but I wasn't too sure on that.

Greenie must have an ATT 3G phone if he's getting delayed messages... Verizon Wireless should hook up all the Caps with phones hahaha. (But they don't have GSM for overseas. BOO.)

I don't post very often, but I'd like to know what others think about what annoys me a bit about some people who do post often which is this comment (or variation thereof)

"We have been playing without our #1 goaltender, so give us a break" as if with Theo we are not full strength.

My opinion is that it is a bit disingenuous to say, despite the fact that Varly played 13 games in the playoffs for us last year.

IIRC, Theo came into the season as the #1, and Varly had a few stinkers before being lights out for a few games and then being hurt.

Do I think he is going to be one of the best? Yes. Has he done enough to warrant comparisons to Nabokov, Luongo, Brodeur, Roy, Hasek (playoff) Osgood? Not even close and I wish Caps fans would stop using it as an excuse for a questionable defense which as Peerless points out isn't even that questionable.